Passive Smoking Linked to Cognitive Disorders

Passive smoking, also known as ‘second-hand’ smoke or environmental tobacco smoke, is known to cause serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer.  An international study by scientists in China, the United Kingdom, and United States has found a link between passive smoking and syndromes of dementia.  Dr Ruoling Chen, from King’s College London (United Kingdom), and colleagues surveyed 5,921 people, ages 60 years and older, living in the rural and urban communities in China to characterize their levels of environmental tobacco smoke exposure, smoking habits and assess levels of dementia syndromes.  The team found that 10% of the group had severe dementia syndromes, which was significantly related to exposure level and duration of passive smoking. The associations with severe syndromes were found in people who had never smoked and in former and current smokers. Observing that: “[environmental tobacco smoke] should be considered an important risk factor for severe dementia syndromes,” the study authors urge that: “Avoidance of [environmental tobacco smoke] may reduce the rates of severe dementia syndromes worldwide.”